Val French shortlisted in Grassroots Sportswoman of the Year

Val French, 68, from Barmby Moor near Pocklington, is among six nominees for the Sure Grassroots Sportswoman of the Year award, featured in The Sunday Times.

The former All Saints RC School teacher - a pupil when it was known as Bar Convent School - volunteers as a ‘Champion’ in British Cycling’s Breeze programme.

Val has led over 1,000 rides as a British Cycling Breeze Champion (Image: Kevin Glenton) Breeze launched in 2011 with the ambition of closing the gender gap in cycling and more than 350,000 women have attended more than 80,000 free rides in their communities since it began, and ensures ‘riders of all abilities are welcomed, encouraged and supported’, said a spokesperson for the sport’s governing body in this country.

Val – who is also the programme’s East and North Yorkshire area co-ordinator - has trained to lead four or five rides per week taking groups on quiet lanes around areas like Stamford Bridge, Pocklington and onto National Cycle Network routes in the Wolds.

She was the first Champion in the programme to reach 1,000 rides and her award citation estimates over 5,000 women have accessed the sport as a result of her efforts.

Val and a group of Breeze participants ahead of her 1,000th ride (Image: SWpix.com) It’s estimated that Val has ridden the equivalent distance of three-quarters of the Earth's circumference during the programme.

Val said: “The participants really gain from being in the programme.

“I think one of the main things is wellbeing, especially if somebody new moves to the area.

“It’s a fantastic way for them to meet new friends, and to explore the countryside.

“I’ve had comments from some that have been out riding for a while saying that their lives have changed, even just from the fitness and health side of it.”

Val said she knows the local roads ‘like the back of her hand’, after being born and raised on a farm in nearby Everingham, and that the Breeze set-up, with up to eight riders in one group, also helps the women to ride in traffic.

'I was in a boot for three and a half months – I was heartbroken'

She said: “The ethos is to get women back on their bikes, and we always go at the pace of the slowest rider, but they inevitably progress.”

That advancement led Val to set up several female cycling groups in her area, including the ‘Barmby Breezers’, ‘Barmby Moor Pink Ladies’, and ‘Barmby School Mums’, all in the village where she lives.

She has also organised overseas trips in addition to some of the most well-loved routes at home, like the Way of The Roses, which passes through nearby Pocklington, and several of the National Cycle Network ‘Coast to Coast’ rides.

The journey to her 1,000th ride was not without setbacks, although Val said that the word ‘can’t’ doesn’t come into her vocabulary.

She said: “I snapped my Achilles tendon playing tennis in May 2023.

“I was in a boot for three and a half months – I was heartbroken.

“The group carried on – I cycled at home on a static bike – and when I came out of the boot I led six or seven rides a week to reach the 1,000 barrier and am up to around 1,080 as we speak.

“I don’t do it for reward – I do it so that I can see women develop in cycling so they can get as much enjoyment as I’ve had out of it.

“It feels very special though to be nominated."

British Cycling’s interim sport and participation director, Amy Gardner, said: “This is such an incredible achievement for Val, and we will never be able to thank her enough for the wonderful contribution she has made to cycling in Britain.

"Yorkshire is blessed with so many cycling legends, from Beryl Burton to Lizzie Deignan, and Val deserves to be recognised in the very highest order alongside them.

“Breeze simply couldn’t happen without our inspirational Breeze Champions.

“Their boundless energy, enthusiasm and commitment to getting more women on bikes has positively impacted hundreds of thousands of lives, and we want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them.”